The Home Teaching of Defectives

There are a great number of defectives up and down the country for whom institution care is not necessary but who can, if they are given the right sort of occupation which will interest them and brighten their lives, live in the community without any detriment to themselves or to others. For some of these defectives, attendance at an Occupation Centre is the best solution, but many live in districts where no Centre is accessible, or they have some physical disability which prevents their taking the daily journey to and from the Centre. In such cases, the " suitable training or occupation " which under the Mental Deficiency (Amending) Act of 1927 it is incumbent on Local Authorities to provide, can be given by means of a Home Teaching scheme, and it is thought that some account of such a scheme as worked in the Middlesex area, may be of interest and value to readers of " Mental Welfare." The Scheme has been in operation since June, 1929, and there has thus been time in which to gain considerable practical experience of its possibilities and to assess its concrete results.